Comment: The following editorial article appeared in the Cyprus Weekly of Nicosia on 18 July 2008.

Monumental impertinence

'IT IS unbelievable, but true. Turkey is bidding for a seat on the UN Security Council... That would really be something, if it came to pass. It would mean that a country that has been casting Security Council and General Assembly resolutions into a waste paper basket for decades and refusing to implement them would be rewarded for its utter contempt of the most important United Nations branch with a seat on its Council.

"IT IS unbelievable, but true.

Turkey is bidding for a seat on the UN Security Council.

What is more, it claims that it has sufficient support to win a seat when it comes to a vote before the General Assembly.

That would really be something, if it came to pass.

It would mean that a country that has been casting Security Council and General Assembly resolutions into a waste paper basket for decades and refusing to implement them would be rewarded for its utter contempt of the most important United Nations branch with a seat on its Council.

As if this were not enough, such a decision would also reward Turkey for its equally brazen prolonged contempt of the European Court of Human Rights, whose numerous judgements it also refuses to implement.

Turkey’s brazen audacity in seeking a seat on the Council is within its rights as an equal, though stained, member of the UN.

It remains to be seen whether the UN members will react as they must, by upholding the rule of law and respect for UN principles, by rejecting Turkey’s bid outright, or whether they will succumb to pressure and accept it, to their eternal shame!"